September 30, 2010

Press Summary Archive

Fears over Ireland grow as cost of its banking bailout increase to
€50bn

30 September 2010

Fears over Ireland’s
public finances are continuing with Ernst & Young predicting that
the country’s public deficit will remain the highest in the eurozone
until 2014 at the earliest, according to the Irish Independent.
The news comes as the Irish government has announced that the cost of
its banking bail-out will rise to €50 billion, Bloomberg reports.

The Telegraph reports that markets are concerned by the
growing number of ECB governors calling for an end to emergency support
measures for the eurozone, such as bond purchases and other lending
facilities. Hans Redeker from BNP Paribas is quoted saying, “We think
there is going to a double-dip recession in eurozone periphery.”

Barroso declares “sea change” in economic governance of the EUFT: Eurozone leaders must stomach the idea of
sovereign default
There is widespread coverage of the proposals for stronger economic
governance unveiled yesterday by EU Commissioner for Economic and
Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn. The first set of proposals only envisages
financial sanctions for rule-breakers and is restricted to eurozone
member states. Fines for countries which persistently fail to meet the
Stability and Growth Pact criteria will be “quasi-automatic”, meaning
that they could only be blocked by a qualified majority within the
Council. Controversially, sanctions could possibly be imposed on
countries with trade or current account imbalances.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said, “The
proposals we are making today represent the biggest step forward on
economic governance since we adopted the Stability and Growth Pact. Once
approved and implemented by the Member States, they will mark a sea
change in the way economic governance is dealt with in the European
Union, and in particular in the Euro area”.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Euractiv Deutschland, Austrian
Chancellor Werner Faymann has voiced his opposition to Treaty changes
aimed at strengthening the EU’s economic governance. "Everything that is
within the bounds of current legal measures can be used. But all
measures that would require Treaty change I find – thinking back to the
Lisbon Treaty – hard to imagine in the next two years", he said.

France wins German support on AIFM DirectiveFrance has won the backing
of Germany
in opposing the ‘passport’ provision in the AIFM Directive, which would
allow funds and managers outside the EU to obtain pan-EU marketing
rights, raising fears that the Directive will take an even more
protectionist format than before. Finance ministers will today discuss
the proposal with a view to reaching a compromise.FTCity
AMOpen Europe
researchOpen
Europe research 2

The European Commission gives France
an ultimatum on Roma but refrains from taking legal action on
discrimination
It is widely reported that the European Commission has threatened to
launch legal proceedings against France
for failing to implement EU rules on freedom of movement. The French
government has been given until 15 October to provide evidence that its
policies on repatriations of Roma people comply with EU law. Crucially,
the Commission has refrained from suing France
for discriminating against the ethnic group. However, Le Point reports
that EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said yesterday that “this
dossier is not closed”, suggesting that there could still be room for a
legal action specifically against discrimination. The FT describes
the Commission’s decision as “a political victory” for Paris.
Le
MondeLe
PointWSJMailGuardianIrish
TimesFTIrish
IndependentBBCEuropean
VoiceEUobserverEuractivAFPIndependentIHTEl
Pais

Head of EU’s food agency accused of conflict of interest over GM
foodsLe Monde reports that Hungarian scientist Diana Banati – who
chairs the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) – has been accused of a
conflict of interest. While the EFSA is supposed to provide the
European Commission with scientific advice on genetically modified
foods, Ms. Banati did not reveal that she had previously sat on the
board of directors of the International Life Science Institute, which
lobbies in favour of genetically modified products and includes among
its members several multinationals such as Kraft Foods, Danone, Nestlé,
BASF and Bayer. Coulisses
de BruxellesLe
Monde

EU officials’ union: “If there are no EU institutions, there is no
Europe”EUobserver reports that Renzo Carpenito from the European
Council’s FFPE union has complained about some national governments’
approach to EU expenditure, describing it as “scapegoating” and
“caricaturing”, following French and British demands for reduced budget
increases. “They [European leaders] come here to Brussels
and they agree to the Lisbon Treaty, to more Europe
but they are not willing to pay for it. If there are no EU
institutions, there is no Europe”, Carpenito
argued. EUobserver

DutchUniversity
research: European Arrest Warrant leads to race to the bottom in human
rights protectionNRC Handelsblad reports that Dutch judges and prosecutors have
“strong suspicions" that the European Arrest Warrant is being abused by
authorities in other countries. Researchers from UtrechtUniversity found that
judicial protection for suspects is often insufficient and that the
instrument is mainly being used to transfer “petty criminals” from
country to country. NRC
HandelsbladUtrecht
University research

Der Spiegel reports that the discovery of secret
documents now ‘proves’ that Germany only traded the Deutschemark for the
euro as a French condition for German reunification.Spiegel

MEPs are threatening to freeze part of the budget for European
Commissioners' salaries and allowances unless changes are made to the
Commissioners' code of conduct.European
VoiceOpen
Europe blog

Euractiv notes that Egemen Bagis, Turkey's chief EU
negotiator, sought yesterday to unblock Ankara's
accession bid by calling on EU member states to call referenda on the
country's membership. Meanwhile, European Voice reports that NATO
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called on the EU to give Turkey
a role in the Union's security policy.European
VoiceEuractiv

The Chief Executive of Goldman Sachs Lloyd Blankfein yesterday
warned that overregulation could force banks to move out of Europe.
He is concerned that the new Basel
III rules aimed at toughening banks’ capital and liquidity requirements
may be enforced more rigorously by European regulators than by other
jurisdictions.TelegraphFT

FT Deutschland has called into question the
influence of the newly created European Systemic Risk Board, noting that
its recommendations will only be made public in ‘special cases’. The
article notes that this is unlikely to have much impact on member
states, unless early warnings of financial hazards are made public.
No link

The WSJ’s Real Time Brussels
blog notes thata legal advisor to the European Court of Justice
has said that insurance companies may not charge men and women
different rates for products. That would include life insurance, in
which women routinely get better deals than men because they live
longer.WSJ:
Real Time Brussels

ORF reports that the EU is considering yearly stress
test for banks.ORF